


Adomania

by 0bviousLeigh



Series: Yuma is a Girl [9]
Category: Yu-Gi-Oh! Zexal
Genre: Gender or Sex Swap, Other
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-09-03
Updated: 2017-09-03
Packaged: 2018-12-23 09:35:07
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,907
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11987091
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/0bviousLeigh/pseuds/0bviousLeigh
Summary: Adomania - the sense that the future is coming too quickly // All Yuma wants is to keep her friends safe, but she can't keep them away from everything.





	Adomania

**Author's Note:**

> Welcome to my Zexal rewrite that I started for Zexal month on tumblr--an AU in which, first and foremost, Yuma is a girl. Always a girl, born with a V, the whole nine yards. Why? Because the idea wouldn't leave me alone. So [I drew it](http://rainbow-galaxy-supernova.tumblr.com/post/164290621451/zexal-month-day-13-yuma-day-something-ive-been), and I started writing it, and I ran with it. 
> 
> This is my rewrite of episodes 13-14

Yuma looks down at the new cards in her hands. “With any luck, these will be helpful when that BDSM-obsessed onion head comes calling,” she mumbles to herself.

But of course, nothing is ever to herself anymore. “That is the second time you have mentioned that assortment of letters,” Astral says. “What does it mean?”

“I’ll tell you when you’re older,” Yuma says. She’s actually early to class for a change, so she settles in at her desk and plays an online game until her friends arrive.

“’Sup?” Yuma asks as Kotori, Tetsuo, and Takashi approach.

“We have to talk,” Kotori says, grabbing Yuma’s hand and tugging her out of the classroom. In the hall, she shows Yuma and article about duelists who have mysteriously aged.

Yuma hopes that her face gives nothing away as she thinks back to the incident at the mall. “Weird,” she says, passing Kotori’s tablet back to her. “Why’d you bring me in the hall for that?”

“Because,” Tetsuo hisses, glancing around, “All those duelists had Numbers cards!”

Takashi adds, “And lots of duelists have been attacked recently, so we’re worried about you.”

That actually makes Yuma smile, and she leans over and ruffles Takashi’s hair. “That’s sweet of you to say,” she tells him, and she smiles at Kotori and Tetsuo. “But there’s one thing that you have to remember—I’m no sucker. Now I don’t know what the correlation is between numbers and these guys, or if there even is one, but if I feel like something is wrong…” her smile drops and she fixes each of them with a stony stare, “The last thing I’ll do is get any of you involved.”

The three of them look shocked.

“Why?” Kotori asks. “Is it dangerous? Because if it is then you shouldn’t be involved either!”

“I don’t know,” Yuma says. “I’m almost certain that there will be an element of danger at some point, but what you all need to remember is that I brought this on myself. I took the power that the Key gave me, that made Astral, the Numbers, and anything else that comes along with them my problem. Not yours, mine.”

“But—” Takashi begins.

“Nope,” Yuma says firmly. “My mess. Mine, mine alone. Now I don’t want to hear another word about this.”

Tetsuo opens his mouth, and Yuma loudly cries, “I think I just got my period! Hang on, I have to go to the bathroom!”

The boys, predictably, blush profusely and Kotori checks her backpack for a pad, and Yuma makes her escape. She does not go to the bathroom, but rather to the roof, where she hops up on the air conditioning unit and paces back and forth as Astral watches.

“What is a period?” Astral asks.

“Forget about it, you perv!” Yuma snaps, chewing on her thumbnail, “We have bigger problems to worry about. I can only keep those guys at arm’s length for so long, and if they get mixed up in this nonsense with Kite I’ll never forgive myself.”

“Then why not tell them that Kite is dangerous and they need to stay away?” Astral asks.

“Because,” Yuma groans, “If I tell them about a specific threat, they’ll be even more determined to make sure that I stay away from the threat, too!” She stomps her foot. “Ugh, if only I had been strong enough to get him the first time! Stupid, magical girl-knockoff, arrogant sonuva—”

“Yuma?”

Yuma shrieks and almost trips over her own feet. She turns and sees Cathy peeking over the edge of the air conditioning unit. “Cathy!” Yuma gasps, hands over her chest, “Oh, I didn’t notice you there!”

“You remember my name?” Cathy asks shyly.

“Of course,” Yuma says. “What’s up?”

“Well I saw you here and I just…who are you talking to?”

“Myself,” Yuma answers. “There’s this RPG I’m playing online and I’m getting my butt whipped.” She laughs. “Silly to get so involved, isn’t it? But I just can’t help myself.”

“I understand,” Cathy says.

Yuma hops down from the unit. “Thanks, Cathy. Sometimes I just gotta vent, you know?” She winks, and heads back into school.

 

* * *

 

“She’s hiding something,” Kotori mutters as Yuma dashes off, claiming to have a doctor’s appointment.

“No kidding,” Takashi says. “That’s why I have an idea!”

“And it’s a good one,” Tetsuo says with a grin.

They lead Kotori outside, where Takashi announces his plan.

 “I suggest we form a club—a Numbers investigation club! If Yuma won’t tell us what’s happening, then clearly the solution is to find out for ourselves.”

“Do you think it’s safe?” Kotori asks.

“There will be three of us,” Tetsuo says. “We’ll have each other’s backs.”

“Perhaps a fourth would be good?” A voice calls from above.

Kotori yelps as Tokunosuke drops from a tree.

“I would like to join this club!” Tokunosuke says.

“Oh, you were possessed by Numbers, weren’t you?” Tetsuo says excitedly.

“Yup!” Tokunosuke says, “And I remember absolutely nothing from it!”

Kotori groans while Takashi and Tetsuo almost fall over.

“Ahem,” says a soft voice, “Can I join, too?”

The four of them turn around. Cathy peers out from behind a tree.

“Cathy, you know about Numbers?” Takashi asks excitedly.

“Well, no,” Cathy says, rocking back and forth, “But I heard Yuma talking to herself yesterday. She was talking about someone named Kite, and if her friends got mixed up with him, she would never forgive herself.”

Kotori gasps. “Did you ask her about it?”

“I did,” Cathy says, “But she said she was talking about an RPG.”

“Yuma doesn’t play RPGs,” Kotori and Tetsuo say together.

“So she must be covering up this Kite person’s true identity!” Tokunosuke cries. “That should be where we start!”

“Okay,” Kotori says, “Let’s all split up and search for clues.” She giggles, “I’ve always wanted to say that.”

 

* * *

 

 

Yuma lounges on the grassy embankment by the river. This place has always been a safe spot for her, a quiet place where she can relax.

Astral sighs for the umpteenth time in the last five minutes and Yuma flinches. So much for her relaxation. She sits up and snaps at Astral, “Not one more sound out of your mouth or I’m gonna get some ghost duct tape and—”

“YUMA!”

Yuma jumps up at Cathy’s destressed cry, the girl is in tears as she races up to Yuma. Yuma holds out her arms and Cathy falls against her.

“What happened?” Yuma asks.

“Kotori and the boys, they’ve been kidnapped!”

“What?!” Yuma cries, her heart stuttering in her chest.

“We were looking for information,” Cathy gasps, “And there was a man…” her body suddenly goes rigid. She backs away, and her voice takes on a chilling tone. “Hello, Yuma.”

“C-Cathy?” Yuma asks, taking a step back.

“No,” Cathy’s mouth says with a smirk that is unlike the sweet girl Yuma knows, “My name is Jin, and I serve Tenjo Kite. I have your friends, and if you want to see them, you’ll come and give me your Numbers.”

Before Yuma can say or do anything, Cathy suddenly goes limp, and Yuma manages to reach out and catch Cathy as she falls. Cathy blinks and is suddenly hysterical once more.

“Yuma?! What just happened?”

“It’s okay, Cat-chan,” Yuma says with a confidence she doesn’t feel. “We’re going to go get our friends back. Show me where you all went this afternoon.”

She’s going to give Kite and Jin hell for this.

Cathy leads her to the dilapidated mansion, and Yuma marches in like a battle hero, but her bravado vanishes as Jin taunts her, and as he points up to Kite, sitting high above the duel field. It’s further thrown by the image of her friends surrounded by…

What the hell?

As Yuma activates her duel disk, she squints at the holoscreen that shows her friends standing on a stalactite and surrounded by lava. She barely listens to Jin as he rants and raves about Kite. How the hell did this madmen kidnap her friends, get them to a volcano, and come back in time for this duel? They weren’t near any volcanoes, and Yuma had seen her friends just hours earlier.

Between her confusion, Jin’s ramblings, and her friend’s screams for help, she’s making dumb mistakes in this duel, and Astral is suffering.

“Give me your numbers,” Jin orders as Yuma’s life points fall, “And I’ll let your friends go. Kite and I will show mercy.”

Yuma looks up at the shadowy figure above the duel field.

“It’s obvious what we need to do,” Astral says with a heavy tone. He turns to Yuma. “Surrender the Numbers and me, it’s the only way to save your friends from Kite.”

Yuma snarls, “You shut your mouth! I’m not surrendering you or the Numbers!”

“But your friends,” Astral gasps.

“And you are one of them!” Yuma cries. She starts to get teary-eyed as she looks at Astral. “We’ve been together for weeks, how could you not know that I care about you the same way I care about all of my friends?!” She whirls on Jin. “And you! You can just go straight to hell, I don’t believe a word out of your lying mouth!” She looks up at the shadowy figure. “Is that even Kite?!” She screams, “He’s been awfully quiet!”

Cathy lets out a hiss. “Let’s find out!” And bless that girl, she leaps from ledge to ledge until she gets to the shadowy figure and gives it a damn good roundhouse kick to the head.

And the head goes flying,  bouncing several times before landing at Yuma’s feet.

“A statue,” Yuma says. She laughs hysterically. “I knew it, I fucking knew it!” She grins at Jin, more a flash of teeth than a smile. “Hey, Takashi!” She hollers.

“Y-yes?” Takashi asks.

“Where’s the nearest active volcano?” Yuma asks.

Takashi seems to regain some of his composure. “200 kilometers away.”

Yuma nods. “And what time did you guys get here?”

“Around six,” Cathy says as she leaps down. She seems to catch on to Yuma’s train of thought.

Yuma looks at her duel disk. “It’s barely after seven!” She looks up at the holoscreen showing her friends and calls to them, “Guys! Can you feel heat? Can you smell sulfur?”

They shake their heads, and Yuma continues, “It’s an elaborate trick! It’s probably a VR field, I don’t think you’re in any danger!”

“But what if we are?” Tokunosuke yelps.

“You’re okay!” Yuma cries. “I promise! Trust me!”

Kotori takes a deep breath and steps off the ledge of rock…landing seemingly in midair.

“Huh?!” Kotori gasps, “It’s solid ground!” She puts out her hands and knocks something over—the lava field flickers and vanishes, revealing the desk that the boys are standing on.

Yuma laughs. Her friends leap off the desk and run out of the field that the holoscreen shows, but seconds later a door nearby opens and they dash in.

“We’re safe!” Kotori cheers. Cathy runs to her and the two of them hug.

Yuma fixes Jin with a steely stare. The man looks flabbergasted. “Astral,” Yuma says, “You and I are going to win this.” She grins at him. “I’m not giving up on you.”

A beam of light shoots out of her pendant and hits Astral square in the chest. Astral is enveloped in light, and when it fades, Yuma hears several gasps.

“It’s Astral!” Kotori says.

“He _is_ real!” Takashi says in a strangled tone.

“You can see him now?” Yuma asks them.

“Yuma,” Astral says calmly, bringing Yuma’s attention back to him. “We have a duel to win.”

Yuma feels a wave of strength rush through her. “Gotcha,” she says.

And they do win. They beat Jin to a pulp, and Yuma is totally going to ask Astral about this Chaos XYZ thing later, but first she has something to do.

Astral takes Jin’s number card, and Yuma walks up to the man who threatened her friends. She stands with her feet planted a breath away from Jin’s head, and she looks down at him like he’s scum on her shoe.

“You don’t scare me,” Yuma tells him coldly. She raises her voice, “And you don’t scare me either, Kite.” She turns in a slow circle, looking up. “Yeah, you weren’t here, but you’re watching, aren’t you? You saw me overcome my hesitation, you saw me wipe the floor with this guy. I’ve got news for you Kite, I’ve faced scarier people than you. You mean nothing to me!” He voice rises to a shriek. “Do you hear me, Kite?! You have no power over me!! You’re a cowardly, BDSM freak, onion-headed bastard, and I’m not afraid of you!”

She turns on her heel and looks over her friends. “Come on,” she tells them. “We’re leaving.”

Yuma leads the way out of the mansion and she gets a solid block away from it before she veers to the edge of the sidewalk and vomits into a sewer drain.

“Yuma!” Kotori squeaks, running to her side. “Oh gosh, are you okay?”

Yuma wipes her mouth with the back of her hand. She’s shaking, her teeth are chattering, and she’s near tears. “No I am not okay!” She almost shrieks. “This exactly what I was trying to avoid!” She staggers back and collapses on the sidewalk, overcome with sobs. She buries her face in her hands and dry heaves, flashing back to the images of her friends surrounded by lava. Yes, it was ridiculous, and she quickly figured out it was a trick, but it was damn good one, considering Rio suffered severe burns. Someone touches her shoulder and she flinches.

“I can’t keep anyone safe,” Yuma gasps, “I can’t save anyone, why do I bother if things never work out the way I want them to? Oh god I can’t believe it almost happened again…!”

“Yuma,” Astral says firmly. “You must breathe.”

Yuma takes a deep, heaving breath. She lowers her hands. Someone hands her a tissue and she blows her nose. Her hands are shaking. She blinks away tears. Her friends are crouched around her, each of them looking worried, sheepish, and sad.

“You were so brave,” Cathy murmurs.

Yuma sniffles. “I’m never truly brave. I’m just a really, really, good liar.”

“Not that good,” Tetsuo says, “You told Cathy you were ranting about an RPG.”

“Why couldn’t you leave it alone?” Yuma wails, fresh tears spilling over her cheeks.

Kotori elbows Tetsuo hard. “We didn’t leave it alone because we wanted to help,” she says as Tetsuo looks even more sheepish.

“And you almost died,” Yuma says.

“Well, in the end, were never in danger,” Takashi says.

“Oh no?” Yuma asks sarcastically. “That should help my nightmares, considering I already dream about Rio burning to a crisp every night!” She breaks off with a gasp. “Oh god I can’t breathe…”

Astral appears in her line of sight. He kneels in front of her, places his hands over her hears, and presses his forehead to hers. She can’t feel him, not really, not the touch of his skin against her own, but she can feel heat from his body where it touches her.

“Yuma,” Astral says, his voice calm and even, “Your friends desire to stand up for you. Perhaps you should let them. They have the same desires in their hearts that you do.”

“It’s not the same,” Yuma whimpers. “They can bleed, and burn, and…”

“And I’m not Rio,” Kotori says firmly. Yuma looks at her, and Kotori takes her hand; Kotori’s hand goes through Astral’s, and now there’s twice as much heat on her hand. “None of us are Rio.”

“You could be,” Yuma says.

“And if we did end up like her, it wouldn’t be your fault,” Kotori says, her voice breaking. “We have free will to decide if we want to be here or not.”

“You’re kids!” Yuma cries, looking around at her friends. “You—”

“You’re a kid, too,” Tokunosuke interrupts. “You aren’t that much older than me.”

“It’s different,” Yuma says, “I—”

“Made a choice?” Takashi offers.

“Am part of something bigger?” Tetsuo asks.

“Understand the danger?” Kotori asks, “Because that’s not true.”

Yuma sighs. “I’m not getting you away from this, am I?”

“Especially not now that we’ve seen Astral,” Cathy says. “He’s real, and if he’s your friend, then he’s our friend, too.”

Astral seems surprised. “Can they still see me?”

Yuma sniffles. “Can you guys…still see Astral?”

“No,” They all answer together.

“Is he here?” Kotori asks.

Yuma nods and even manages to smile. “He’s right in front of me. Your hand is going through his hand.”

“Oh…oh!” Kotori cries, taking her hand off Yuma’s. “I’m…did I hurt him?”

Yuma shakes her head. “Nah, he’s fine.”

“Good,” Tetsuo says. “Since Astral’s okay, we should work on making ourselves okay. How about we all go to my place for some hot chocolate?”

“Oh god, that sounds amazing,” Yuma says.

“I’m down,” Tokunosuke agrees, getting to his feet. “Let’s go!”

So they all stand and begin walking away, arms around each other as they go. It’s not a perfect situation, Yuma knows it, but she’s got to acknowledge that her friends can make their own decisions. That doesn’t mean she can’t track down and kick Kite’s cute butt (and the rest of his obnoxious self) before he gets a chance to really hurt them, though.


End file.
